NASA Tests A Battery-Powered Plane With 10 Engines

NASA recently tested a battery-powered electric plane with 10 engines. The plane can take off like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an aircraft.

The prototype is called Greased Lightning or GL-10. The remotely piloted plane has a 10-foot wingspan (3.05 meters), eight electric motors on the wings, two electric motors on the tail and weighs a maximum of 62 pounds (28.1 kilograms) at take off.

Initially, NASA researchers planned to develop a 20-foot wingspan (6.1 meters) aircraft powered by hybrid diesel/electric engines, but started with smaller versions for testing built by rapid prototyping.

"We have a couple of options that this concept could be good for," said Bill Fredericks, aerospace engineer. "It could be used for small package delivery or vertical take off and landing, long endurance surveillance for agriculture, mapping and other applications. A scaled up version -- much larger than what we are testing now -- would make also a great one to four person size personal air vehicle."

The plane will make an appearance at the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International 2015 conference in Atlanta May 4-7.

In future, researchers hope to confirm the aerodynamic efficiency of GL-10.